Geisha is always called beautiful even if she is not.

Nothing in life is ever as simple as we imagine.

If those sorts of moments would be the only pleasure life offered me, I'd be better off shutting out that one brilliant source of light to let my eyes begin to adjust to the darkness.

And then I became aware of all the magnificent silk wrapped around my body, and had the feeling I might drown in beauty. At that moment, beauty itself struck me as a kind of painful melancholy.

The corridor couldn't have smelled more strongly of fish guts if we had actually been inside a fish.

Passion can quickly slip to jealousy, or even hatred.

Even stone can be worn down with enough rain.